


Pack

by sneetchstar



Series: Gendrya Month April 2020 [5]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:27:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23957650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sneetchstar/pseuds/sneetchstar
Summary: When Gendry is taken by the Red Witch, Arya does not sit idly by.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Series: Gendrya Month April 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1690471
Comments: 16
Kudos: 156





	Pack

**Author's Note:**

> For week five of Gendrya Month 2020.
> 
> Prompt: Captive. "When Gendry is sold to the Red Witch he thinks this is it for him. A few days later, their camp is attacked by wolves- the alpha as big as a horse and the girl riding her, equally as wild."

“How can you do this? He was going to join you, be your brother!” Arya yells, glaring up at Thoros. She frantically looks around and sees that she is the only one who is upset. Gendry, clearly used to having no say in what happens to him, merely sags, resigned to his fate.

When Beric receives two large sacks of coin from one of the guards with that red bitch, Arya wheels on him. “This is about _money_? You’re selling him like… like he’s just a… a _thing_! He’s a _person_! You can’t buy and sell people!”

“The lord of light has need of this boy,” the red woman says, her voice dark and smooth. Arya hates it.

“You’re going to hurt him! You’re a witch, I know it, and you’re going to hurt him, or worse!” She starts marching towards her, but Thoros holds her back.

“There’s nothing you can do. I’m sorry,” he says.

She jerks away from him. “You’re not sorry,” she spits. “That’s a lie; you’re all liars! You don’t care about some god, all you care about is coin!” she accuses, pointing at the bags still hanging from Beric’s hands. “You’re just as bad as the septons in King’s Landing who tell people their souls will be saved if they give them all their worldly possessions,” she says. She’s no longer yelling, but she is still in a fury. Her eyes keep darting towards Gendry, who is now being bundled, bound, into the back of a cart. He looks so defeated it just breaks her heart even more. “That’s what you’re doing with me, too,” she says. They haven’t made a secret of it, but somehow it hurts now where it didn’t before. “You’re only taking me back to my family so you can get a _reward_ ,” she snarls.

“Arya, we have work to do. People to feed, needs to be met,” Beric starts. “In order to accomplish these things, we need money…”

She doesn’t hear the rest of his speech, because the cart is starting to move away into the forest. She breaks into a run, following it, heedless of the others calling her name.

She follows until she can’t any more, then slows to a stop, forlorn and angry. “I won’t let them take you away,” she whispers, her eyes locked with Gendry’s until she can no longer see him.

A gentle hand lands on her shoulder. She shrugs it away, but still follows Anguy back to the camp, where she ignores everyone for the rest of the day.

xXx

Arya pretends to sleep. She’s gotten good at it during her time on the road. Sometimes it is the only way to learn anything.

Not that she would have slept tonight anyway. The loss of having Gendry beside her, lending her his considerable warmth, only fuels her anger, and helps her stay awake as she had planned to do.

When she hears enough snoring, she quietly stands and creeps towards the horses. She passes one man, a slovenly, gluttonous, rude man who she knows sleeps like the dead due to his hedonistic appetites. She also knows where he keeps his dagger, so she crouches down and relieves him of it.

He doesn’t stir at all, and she continues to where some horses are tied to a tree.

She has her hands on a set of reins when she feels a tingling on the back of her neck. It spreads as a shiver down her spine, and something prompts her to drop the reins and turn around.

“Nymeria,” she whispers, taking a step forward. The wolf is hovering a short distance away, watching in silence, as though she knows she will spook the horses if she comes too close.

Arya walks towards her, certain it is her wolf from years ago. She has to be. She is bigger than Arya now, nearly the same size as the horses. When she comes close enough, she slowly lifts her hand, palm down.

Nymeria leans down and sniffs the offered hand, then almost immediately nuzzles it, chuffing in quiet excitement, her massive tail starting to wag behind her. Arya steps closer and wraps her arms around the wolf’s neck, burying her face in the soft, warm fur.

“Are you here to help me?” she asks. Nymeria turns her head and Arya follows her gaze. Hidden deeper in the forest are more wolves, mostly regular ones, but then another direwolf steps a little closer. Arya squints, trying to see in the dim silvery moonlight. “Summer?”

It must be Summer. Ghost is pure white, Shaggydog is almost black, and Lady and Grey Wind are gone. She lets him sniff her and he lets her pet him, then she looks at Nymeria again.

“Do you know where he is?” she asks, not really sure why she keeps asking a direwolf questions. But then Nym dips her head, nudging Arya in the chest. Behind her, Summer gives her a gentle push, and Arya gets the point. She grabs fistfuls of Nymeria’s fur and hauls herself up on the wolf’s back. Once she is settled, they are off.

xXx

Gendry tosses and turns, unable to sleep. They let him out of the back of the cart so he could be near the fire. However, he is still bound hand and foot, on the hard ground, and without Arya curled in front of him, so sleep is staying out of reach.

He is a little surprised at how the absence of his small friend affects him. He had grown so used to her being there, sharing her warmth, that now he’s not sure if he’ll ever be able to sleep again without her beside him.

At least that’s how it feels right now.

Everyone around him is sleeping, even the guard who is supposed to be keeping watch. He briefly considers trying to escape, but not only is he tied up, he is also tied to _her_. Before she settled down to sleep, she had taken a length of rope, tied one end around his ankles and the other around one of hers.

Then she had calmly, gracefully fluttered to a generous pile of furs on the ground, and gone to sleep.

He no longer finds her beautiful. Arya would be happy to hear that.

He huffs and wriggles himself to face the other way again, his back to the fire. He opens his eyes for a moment, then closes them again.

 _Wait_.

He opens his eyes again and can see the eerie, glowing reflection of another set of eyes staring back at him. As he blinks in the darkness, more eyes appear.

Then the howling begins. _Wolves_.

He sits up, frantically looking around. The others are startled into wakefulness as well, and the men start scrambling for weapons.

Then all seven hells break loose. Wolves appear out of everywhere, flying shapes made of gray fur and teeth and claws descend on them, causing panic and destruction.

They seem to attack everyone except Gendry. In the chaos, the rope tethering him to his captor snaps and he manages to get to his feet. He jumps away from the camp and stands with his back pressed against a tree, watching the chaos in stunned disbelief.

Then the largest wolf he has ever seen comes bounding into the fray, a small shape perched on its back.

“Arya,” he whispers, shocked. He remembers her telling him that she had a direwolf before her father was killed, but he always just pretended to believe her. He sees her looking around while the others cower, and realizes she’s looking for him. “Arya!” he yells, jumping away from the tree.

She sees him then, and slides down from her wolf. The red woman, still alive (Gendry reasons the wolves left her alive on purpose), tries to stop her.

“You cannot have him. That boy has the blood of a king running through his veins. I need that blood,” the witch says.

Arya draws the dagger from her belt, her tiny sword having been stolen. “The only blood you’ll be getting is your own,” she threatens. Her wolf growls behind her, and the red woman has the presence of mind to look concerned.

A second direwolf joins them now, and Gendry almost smiles when he sees the panic on the witch’s face.

“You didn’t see this in your fire tonight?” Arya goads, raising an eyebrow just so. “Your precious lord didn’t warn you that I was coming, and bringing my wolves with me?”

The red woman collects herself and looks deep into Arya’s eyes. “There is darkness in you, child,” she says, trying to sound foreboding.

“Of course there is,” Arya answers, unconcerned. “You took my best friend away from me. He’s the only person I have left in this world and _you took him from me_.” She advances on the woman as she speaks, knife threatening. “He isn’t livestock to be bought, and he isn’t yours. He’s mine.”

Gendry has never felt more helpless and more impressed in his life. Arya, tiny Arya, has come to rescue him. And she brought two direwolves and an entire wolf pack for good measure. If she were of age and not a highborn lady, he’d marry her as soon as they were away from here. Or kiss her, at least.

The witch begins to show more signs of fear, nervously eyeing the dagger pointed at her. “Your… loyalty is to be commended, Lady Stark, but I’m afraid I cannot let you take him.”

“I’m afraid you don’t get a say in the matter,” Arya counters, ignoring the fact that the woman knows who she is. “You can _personally_ tell your lord that he’s going to find another one of King Robert’s bastards to use as a human sacrifice.”

“You’re a smart one,” the witch says. She still looks nervous, but she is regaining some of her bravado. She raises her chin and says, “But you won’t kill me.”

“No?” Arya challenges. “Perhaps not,” she allows, sheathing her knife. Gendry can’t believe his eyes. But then she says, “Nymeria.”

The wolf sounds a short, sharp bark, and the wolves that had retreated into the shadows appear again and descend on the red woman.

Arya finally makes her way over to Gendry, knife out once more. She bends and cuts the ropes around his ankles first so he can stand more easily, and when she straightens up, he already has his hands out so she can cut those ropes as well.

He immediately engulfs her in a tight hug, and when her arms wrap just as tightly around his torso, he allows his head to drop forward, pressing his lips into her crown.

“Thank you,” he whispers into her hair.

“I couldn’t let them take you. I just couldn’t,” she replies, pulling away from him, turning her face so he won’t see her wiping tears away.

He sees it, but says nothing because he’s wiping his own tears from his face.

When they return to the where the Nymeria and Summer are waiting, the other wolves are dispersing, the red witch nothing but a pile of red material and a wrecked body.

“What the…?” Gendry starts, staring in confusion down at what is left of her. The body is that of an old, old woman, with white hair and shrunken skin.

Arya steps forward, looking more closely at the remains. “Well, she _was_ a witch,” she observes. “Must have been some sort of spell keeping her looking young. Then she notices the ruby choker the woman had been wearing was broken and lying beside the body. “Maybe this,” she says, poking it with her toe.

“We should take it,” he suggests. When she looks at him, he says, “I’m not saying you should wear it. It’s just… if it’s magic, we shouldn’t just leave it here for anyone to pick up.”

“Good point,” she says, then uses her dagger to cut a section of the red woman’s skirt off and uses it to pick up the choker, not wanting to touch it with her bare hands. “Let’s get out of here,” she says.

“Please,” he replies, turning to face the two huge wolves, still patiently waiting.

Arya casually walks up to the slightly smaller of the two and pats her between the ears before moving to her side and pulling herself up.

“You can ride Summer,” she says.

“I can do what?” he asks, warily looking up at the huge gray direwolf who is calmly regarding him.

“Summer. You can ride him,” she says, pointing to the direwolf. “Hold out your hand, Gendry. Like this,” she says, showing him. “Let him smell you.” When he hesitates, she adds, “Trust me.”

He looks up at her. He thinks she looks like a wild queen, astride the great beast. “You’re the only person I trust, Arya,” he says, then wills his hand to still as he lifts it. Summer drops his head and sniffs him, then looks at Arya.

“He’s a friend, Summer” she says to the wolf. “Bran would have liked him.” Then she turns to Gendry and says, “Summer was my brother Brandon’s direwolf. He’s…”

“I know,” Gendry softly replies, placing a reassuring hand on her lower leg for a second before turning back to Summer. “Um, okay. How do I…?” he puzzles, trying to figure out where to take hold. Arya just grabbed a handful of fur and hoisted herself up, but she is half his size, so he’s afraid if he does that, he’ll wind up with nothing but a fistful of fur and an angry direwolf with a bald spot. Summer senses his hesitation and lies down on the ground.

“Good boy,” Arya says, cooing at the huge animal like he was a small cuddly puppy.

Summer’s tail thumps the ground a couple of times at her praise. Then Gendry manages to climb on and finds a comfortable spot.

“Hold on,” Arya tells him, and Gendry only has a split second to dig his hands into the wolf’s thick ruff before Summer lurches to his feet.

He manages to keep his seat, but as the direwolves take off into the forest, he realizes he needs to hold on much more tightly. He wonders how Arya manages it, and looks over to see her hunched down low, her body loose and relaxed as she moves with the wolf.

He tries it, leaning slightly forward and willing his body to relax. After a few seconds, he settles into the rhythm of the wolf’s movements, and almost starts enjoying it.

Gendry and Arya race through the night, trusting the wolves to keep them safe. They don’t know where they are headed and they don’t much care. All that matters is they are together. Pack. And that’s enough.


End file.
